More value can grow between the field and the market.
Processing, storage and services connect agricultural output with useful products and jobs. Sustainable value addition needs a viable market, capable operators and fair relationships with producers.
Follow the product and the work around it.
An agricultural value chain connects inputs, production, handling, processing, distribution and consumption. IFAD’s market work emphasizes the relationships that allow rural producers to participate in those stages. A crop can support several enterprises before it reaches its final customer.
Value addition can involve a simple change, such as grading or drying, or a more complex manufacturing process. Each step should answer a demand and preserve enough value to cover its costs. Begin by identifying the product, the customer and the advantage a particular step creates. A higher selling price is useful only when the additional labour, equipment, losses and operating costs remain manageable.
Preserve quality before creating a new product.
Handling, storage and transport determine how much usable output reaches the next participant. FAO estimates global losses before retail at 13.3% in 2023. Its commodity-group estimates were 25.4% for fruits and vegetables and 8.4% for cereals and pulses, reflecting different production and handling characteristics.
These global measures help frame the problem, while a local enterprise needs its own loss assessment. Identify where damage occurs, how much product is affected and why. Drying, grading, appropriate containers or better dispatch coordination may answer different constraints. Choosing the right intervention requires understanding the commodity, rather than assuming the same storage solution suits every harvest.
Different harvests. Different handling needs.
Food lost after harvest and before retail · global estimates
FAO uses production-value weights to aggregate loss percentages. The total overlaps the commodity groups; these are comparisons, rather than parts of one total. Retail and consumer waste are excluded.
Read the FAO sourceAssess the operating system around the equipment.
A processing plant needs dependable supply, skills, energy, water and maintenance. Seasonal throughput matters because equipment can remain idle between harvests while fixed costs continue. Food safety, waste management and traceability also belong within the business model.
Evaluate the complete sequence from purchasing raw material to receiving customer payment. Small improvements can sometimes establish a market before a larger investment. Shared facilities require agreed access and clear responsibility for quality. By-products may have value as feed, compost or industrial inputs, but they need a safe use and a buyer. Their use should also account for the role residues already play in maintaining soil and other farm activities.
Make the producer relationship part of the design.
A processor’s commercial success does not automatically explain what farmers earn. Prices, quality deductions, delivery requirements and payment timing shape how value is distributed. Clear agreements and understandable records help producers compare opportunities and meet obligations.
Producer organizations can coordinate supply and services, while several market outlets can reduce dependence on one customer. Access to standards and technical support matters for smaller farms that could otherwise struggle to qualify. The World Bank’s September 2026 Türkiye agrifood investment illustrates this wider approach: strengthening links among farmers, producer organizations and enterprises alongside processing, storage, logistics and quality systems.
Consider the quality of the jobs created.
Agrifood enterprise can create work in operations, maintenance, transport, testing, marketing and administration. The skills required may offer different routes for women and young people. Local sourcing and service businesses can also retain economic activity within a producing region.
Employment quality needs attention alongside job numbers. Examine safety, pay, hours, seasonality and access to training. A stronger value chain should be evaluated through producer returns, reliable services and customer demand as well as output. Following these measures over time helps explain whether an enterprise’s growth creates durable opportunities and where barriers still prevent people from participating.
Bengbu: exploring several routes from agricultural biomass.
The April 2026 GSSA programme included visits to agricultural processing enterprises in Bengbu. BBCA’s account of the delegation visit described fermentation, lactic acid and polylactic acid, placing renewable biomass and bio-based materials within the discussion.
The visit widened the conversation beyond a crop’s first sale. Processing capability and by-products can connect agriculture with other industries, each with its own technical and commercial requirements. Explore the Anhui meeting archive for the programme and photographs, and the field-exchange page for related visits linking cultivation, research and enterprise.